The present invention relates to a method for constructing a process-driven information system, and more particularly to a method for the development of business process models for distribution through web browsers, and the provision of access to diverse information sources and system functionality through said models.
The development and distribution of process models is increasingly valued as the focus for many business improvement endeavours, ensuring that business workers appreciate how their part of the business works and how their contribution relates to other parts of the business. The value of process models can come both from enhanced business performance, and from the reduction in risk of failures of adherence to best practise, whether that best practise is defined within the organisation or by a regulatory body.
Realising the potential value of process models requires the dissemination of models which fulfil the following requirements:                1) Can reflect various aspects of the business processes; and        2) Which actively support the business workers in carrying out their work.        
As an example of the first requirement, a product delivery process is likely to require co-ordination between technical, financial, logistical and marketing responsibilities; and an individual financial analyst needs to be able to identify the tasks currently required of them, and to appreciate the context of their analysis, including the likely consequences of their judgements or recommendations.
As an example of the second requirement, said product delivery process is likely to require computer support which is integrated with the various coordinated responsibilities, and available to a financial analyst within the context of these responsibilities.
Inventions in the field of process modelling have attempted to address the first of these requirements e.g. by providing graphical representations of processes [U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,270], or mapping processes to workflow structures [U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,069], and this work is cited here as prior art. These inventions provide a visualisation of business processes in the context of business intent and direction. A number of prior approaches exist to disseminate business models widely across a business, typically comprising business modelling software combined with a facility to generate a set of web based pages representing these models, navigable by business workers. However these approaches do not provide for the enactment of processes i.e. the manipulation of resources by workers which are required to put the business steps which are the subject of the models into practice.
Inventions in the field of process enactment and workflow have attempted to address the second of these requirements, through:                A. Methods and apparatus for developing workflow systems to support ordered activities carried out by a collection of users and examples of this are disclosed in the prior art patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,297, U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,592, U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,320, U.S. Pat. No. 574,661.        B Systems to address the task needs of users independently of their co-workers and an example of this is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 553,861        
These documents illustrate systems to provide support for the manipulation of business resources by workers, but typically lack visualisation, contextual positioning and awareness for workers within the processes of a business.
There have been previous attempts to bring these two areas of business process modelling and understanding, and resource manipulation, together using workflow systems to address specialist functional requirements such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,901 or using specific modelling languages of tasks and actions as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,837, so concentrating only on processes which are to have an enactment through computer support. The call centre is a typical embodiment of such a concept. Products which attempt a more general linking of these two areas have used proprietary technologies to do so.
It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide a general, open method for a process model, which addresses both of the requirements illustrated above and to allow the potential value of the business modelling as outlined in the above to be realised.